Landscape Colours need adjusting IMHO. I just saw pics from a BOB TV Program.

[Catseye]

Last night I watched a two hour program on TV entitled; "The Real Battle of Britain" where-in actor Ewan MacGregor and his older brother, currently an RAF Tornado pilot, undertook to try to more fully understand circumstances that pilots went through in the BOB.

His pilot brother went through a quick lesson on the Tiger Moth, then the Harvard then flew a two seater Spitfire and lastly Ewan went for a flight of two Spits and a Hurri for a BOB memorial flight over Dover and along the cliffs. Spectacular!!

They covered in some detail the aircraft and focussed on the pilots who had little training before being thrown into battle. Two of the pilots who took part (now in their 90's) were interviewed and one of them was the original pilot of prettly well the last Hurricane still flying and it was in that flypast and part of the production. He and the the two hosts stood in the middle of the grass airfield and the Hurri did a high speed low altitude (50 ft or less) past them. It was interesting to see the original Hurri pilot watch his aircraft sweep past them and then do mild aerobatics.

OK, so I digress - the purpose of this post is to comment on the aerial views taken from the show when filming shots from the Spit cockpit or in a camera ship filming the aircraft. The fields below were patchwork - similar to the COD SIM - BUT - they were georgeous shades of deep greens, emerald greens some beigy yellows here and there - the predominance was deep and emeral greens. Britain is a WET country to say the least and even in mid summer (spring in North America :)) there is enough moisture to keep things green. There was a good deal of high contrast in these pics and the cloud formations were spectacular. Reminded me of the poem "High Flight" -

High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941


I would like the devs to take another look at how beigy-yellow they have the countryside and rethink the colour pallet.

Cheers All.

[159th_Jester]

Couldn't agree with you more.

[machoo]

Desaturate your video card colors . Problem solved.

[Catseye]

Desaturate your video card colors . Problem solved.

The card is set to proper colour balance both for colour hue, saturation, contrast and brightness.

Its not the saturation of colour that is at issue but rather the hue. Too much gold in them hills from what I can see.

[RocketDog]

CloD's landscape is pretty poor-quality work, with even simple things like the colours of the trees (darker than the fields, in real life) being wrong. I suspect that their budget was so small that they couldn't afford to send someone to the UK and hire an aircraft to check it out for themselves. I did get a smile from Luthier's description of their landscape guy as a "genius", however. Incidentally, I spent an hour today flying over SW England and think they could still make some useful progress just by changing tree colours etc. But the sad truth is that this is one area where CloD lags some way behind other sims.

[winny]

So you can see..
Forward to about 2.35, unless you want to see Ewan hugging a Spitfire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWUrkkVo-vQ&NR=1

[skouras]

excellent video thanks for sharing:grin:

[Catseye]

CloD's landscape is pretty poor-quality work, with even simple things like the colours of the trees (darker than the fields, in real life) being wrong. I suspect that their budget was so small that they couldn't afford to send someone to the UK and hire an aircraft to check it out for themselves. I did get a smile from Luthier's description of their landscape guy as a "genius", however. Incidentally, I spent an hour today flying over SW England and think they could still make some useful progress just by changing tree colours etc. But the sad truth is that this is one area where CloD lags some way behind other sims.

Interesting observation. My take on the landscape at this time is that it is more like the Russian Steppes than the UK. Too many grain fields and dry looking. Also, the airfields look clumpy with big grass tufts on the ground. Those fields were pretty well mowed and more like a football pitch than an unkempt farmfield in a dry climate.
Cheers

[Catseye]

So you can see..
Forward to about 2.35, unless you want to see Ewan hugging a Spitfire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWUrkkVo-vQ&NR=1

Thanks for posting this Winny:
The devs could help themselves a lot if they could see the whole program. Especially the SOUND developer.

[Catseye]

Desaturate your video card colors . Problem solved.

Machoo,
Check the landscape of the vid put up by Whinny. Nothing to do with vid cards but rather incorrect colour pallet for the UK landscape.

[Lololopoulos]

So you can see..
Forward to about 2.35, unless you want to see Ewan hugging a Spitfire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWUrkkVo-vQ&NR=1

this is such an AMAZING video. watching this gives me chills and put a wide smile on my face. it just hands down, BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!:!::!::!::!::!:

[xnomad]

The problem is that when you fly COD at 12:00 midday you are flying on a perfect day.
You know those days where it's a brilliant blue sky and the sun is making everything so bright you have to squint, and everyone is in a great mood?

I've never lived in Kent etc., but I lived in London for a while. Most of the year the UK has clouds and it's either raining, has rained, or rain is on it's way in the near future. Then once in a while you get those brilliant blue sky days where the whole area looks transformed.

So what's missing is the dynamic weather, fly COD at different times of day and it looks amazing under different lighting. I agree the current landscape looks a bit off, but I think it's also because the air is far too clear, there's no haze, fog, smog etc, especially over London, London should be covered in sooty smoke.

Ewan is not flying on one of those bright middays in this video, ( I scanned through it but not that I can see). He's flying on a average UK day, and that's why it looks familiar.

Obviously as a landscape base, the devs have to model a perfect day, and then add weather and lighting effects on top. They also have to make sure that the landscape looks good at all altitudes from the ground up to 8000m.

In the current version when you fly a normal mission in COD, it is without the dynamic weather so you are pretty much flying on a perfect day with maybe a smattering of clouds here and there.

[White Owl]

I've never seen England with my own eyes, and know better than to trust the colors of an image recorded in any format, so can't really form an opinion about how authentic the colors are...

I think this sim hasn't had quite enough attention paid to how beautifully all the different hours of the day are rendered. It's really amazing how much detail is in there. Pick a mission, any mission, and just change the start time in one hour increments. Everything in the sim very gradually changes with the clock, and it's beautiful. High noon, which so many missions unfortunately default to, is probably the least visually interesting hour in Dover. Mornings and evenings are the best.

[Catseye]

I've never seen England with my own eyes, and know better than to trust the colors of an image recorded in any format, so can't really form an opinion about how authentic the colors are...

I think this sim hasn't had quite enough attention paid to how beautifully all the different hours of the day are rendered. It's really amazing how much detail is in there. Pick a mission, any mission, and just change the start time in one hour increments. Everything in the sim very gradually changes with the clock, and it's beautiful. High noon, which so many missions unfortunately default to, is probably the least visually interesting hour in Dover. Mornings and evenings are the best.

Yes, they've done a good job with the changing hues for different times of day. It is important though to start with a correct slate to take advantage of the time of day adjustments. Rain and plants make green. You can have the brightest, sunniest day with no haze - but it doesn't change the colour of chlorophyl. ;) Water and plants make green regardless. In the video it doesn't matter what time of day the shots were taken, the countryside is still green - not yellow, beige or golden. The British Isles are a lush garden environment. Thats why they have the greatest variety of fauna and flora on this planet for any given location. The closest in North America to this environment is the west coast of Canada, specifically Victoria BC.

This sim has been in development for so long and so much time spent on issues like vehicles, and trains and buildings (IMHO at the expense of sound and avionics and interface) that the least they should come up with is the correct colour of the landscape. (and the correct sound of the Merlin engine :evil:)

Don't get me wrong, I love this sim and admire the efforts in getting it right. I've been flying IL2 since it first came out and many other sims before that. I guess I'm getting a bit critical with my expectations of getting it right considering the time and effort and PR over the last few years on it being the best thing since sliced bread. I hope the devs get it right but right now considering the sound and the environment and their track record in IL2 in these areas I have to say I'm skeptical. If it wasn't for third party developers in IL2 I would have put it to bed long ago.

Keep the comments coming. I think that the devs will make use of any critique that helps them to further refine what hopefully will turn out to be all that we hope it will be.

S!

[unreasonable]

As someone who has lived most of his life in the south of England I can assure you that the landscape is not always a lush green garden. It can look totally different in August from its appearance in June, when it is mostly green.

The events of the BoB take place around harvest time. The predominant crop is wheat. Wheatfields at harvest time (and the stubble fields that are left afterwards) are some hue of gold/sand/brown, not green.

Even pasture land will look gold/brown after a couple of weeks in the summer without rain. Contrary to what some people seem to think, it does not rain every day in England.

Having said all or that I agree that the specific colour palette was poorly chosen.

[Skoshi Tiger]

If you do a quick search on grass you probably find a few hundred pages of arguments about land scape colouring.

It will, most likely be broken down into
a) Grass is too green
b) grass is not green enough
c) Summer of 1940 was exceptionally hot and dry
d) various post from trolls.

I think after the first year or so of reading these arguments the developers looked elsewhere for authentic landscape colouring data, though I could be wrong.

cheers!

[Catseye]

snip . . . . . Contrary to what some people seem to think, it does not rain every day in England.

Oki, ok, but my cousin thinks it rains at least every 2 days until November then . . . . hoar frost, scotch mist and gails. :grin:

cheers,

[xnomad]

I posted this in the SimHQ forum a while back. It's not proof of anything but I just want to stimulate some debate.

You can argue that the colours aren't right in this picture as well. I'm pretty certain at this altitude that Google use aircraft and not satellite footage.

Lime Green Kent:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=kent+uk&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.095668,56.513672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Kent,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.245477,1.291409&spn=0.047926,0.175781&t=h&z=13

I'm guessing this is rape; someone will be here in a minute to say they didn't plant rape in 1940...... :)

[SsSsSsSsSnake]

for a short moment I thought the vid was WOP.thats the colour they want without the overgreen hue.
actully since i got my new IPS screen WOP looks a lot less green ,

[Ali Fish]

I'm pretty certain at this altitude that Google use aircraft and not satellite footage.

I'm guessing this is rape; someone will be here in a minute to say they didn't plant rape in 1940...... :)


Yep all google maps/earth is photography !.I am positive ive seen the light aircraft flying the patterns. Seems theres is a strong common myth that its all satellite based images. Not the fist time ive discussed that very theory. satellite imagery is used but not at the close visual level.

Yeh no rape seed in 1940. the difference it makes to the image is quite incredible.

Ive ripped the scenery apart many times and without a complete makeover there isnt much you can do to change these colours portrayed. Try and you'll be back at square 1 unfortunatly. and for what its worth what we have is actually better than we think given what it takes to change it to somthing else.

there has been quite a few posts about this topic, but no one is discussing or asking the correct questions. what does it take to make it better etc etc ? the topic is between a rock and another hard place. not much room for manoever artisticly. The construct of the scenery dictates the final outcome. Many dont appreciate that to some degree. thereafter were left with the expectation that it can be changed. which it can ! but not from our level just yet and atleast untill the SDK arrives. 1C has in fact performed a remarkable job on the scenery, untill we see 3rd party addons we may not as a whole community appreciate just how good it is in all honesty.

[unreasonable]

Memorable song about the english weather:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eT40eV7OiI

[fireship4]

Just a correction to the OP, the program in question was in fact simply titled "The Battle of Britain".

[Catseye]

Just a correction to the OP, the program in question was in fact simply titled "The Battle of Britain".

Hmmm, title on my saved program is as I posted. Perhaps different in different markets? or the TV title is different than the program - I'll check that.

Cheers

Checked it out: The TV onscreen guide says "The Real Battle of Britain". The actual title page shown in the program is "Battle of Britain". Go figure!

[Redroach]

I thought there was already enough discussion about how different crops were grown in 1940, smog/fog making the landscape appear more bluish and so on.
And besides that, the landscape of that modern video is quite comparable already - at least on my pc, which doesn't show neon-green colors at all.
And last but not least: There was some mod in the works that makes CoD colors appear more brown-yellowish - if you're really into that.

[whoarmongar]

I dont need Google earth, I dont need satelite images, aerial photography no thanks, local photographs not needed, I just need to look out the damn window, and then load CloD to know beyond any doubt that Clod just aint right scenery and colour wise.

I refuse to cite my sources, I will not post a link to any internet site, no video will be produced, neither unusually for an English person will I discuss the weather, neither will I give reams and reams of pointless statistics and at no point was wikipedia used in the production of this post. I just use my eyes.

[159th_Jester]

I dont need Google earth, I dont need satelite images, aerial photography no thanks, local photographs not needed, I just need to look out the damn window, and then load CloD to know beyond any doubt that Clod just aint right scenery and colour wise.

I refuse to cite my sources, I will not post a link to any internet site, no video will be produced, neither unusually for an English person will I discuss the weather, neither will I give reams and reams of pointless statistics and at no point was wikipedia used in the production of this post. I just use my eyes.


End of discussion right there.

I honestly don't see how anyone can argue about the colours of South East England (or any part of England for that matter) with people who actually live there.

[furbs]

I posted loads and loads of pics during development saying the colours were off, not enough dark greens and hedgerows, not enough blue haze and too many badly placed trees.
I got slated for it by quite a few people on here.

I live in Bedfordshire, England.

[Skoshi Tiger]

I thought there was already enough discussion about how different crops were grown in 1940, smog/fog making the landscape appear more bluish and so on.

There was. A very long discussion if I remember correctly!


And besides that, the landscape of that modern video is quite comparable already - at least on my pc, which doesn't show neon-green colors at all.


Same here.

[David198502]

I dont need Google earth, I dont need satelite images, aerial photography no thanks, local photographs not needed, I just need to look out the damn window, and then load CloD to know beyond any doubt that Clod just aint right scenery and colour wise.

I refuse to cite my sources, I will not post a link to any internet site, no video will be produced, neither unusually for an English person will I discuss the weather, neither will I give reams and reams of pointless statistics and at no point was wikipedia used in the production of this post. I just use my eyes.

+1.
im not even from england, but i have never seen any landscapes anywhere in the world which resemble COD ones.and i have seen pretty much places on our lovely planet yet.

[Redroach]

There was. A very long discussion if I remember correctly!



Same here.

Whoa. Someone actually agreeing with me? This has gotta be written down in bright red :)

[fireship4]

I live in Bedfordshire, England.

Me too.

[Hatch]

lol everyone's going on about the colours.
Even in black &white it just looks wrong.

The english countryside is so distinctive let them get that right first, and worry about the colours later.

At the moment I feel like I'm flying over a fantasy landscape.

[Tree_UK]

I posted loads and loads of pics during development saying the colours were off, not enough dark greens and hedgerows, not enough blue haze and too many badly placed trees.
I got slated for it by quite a few people on here.

I live in Bedfordshire, England.

At least you only got slated for it furbs, my description of the landscape (looks like a water colour, that as been badly painted by a child) cost me a few weeks in forum prison, however, I was right.

[Bryan21cag]

End of discussion right there.

I honestly don't see how anyone can argue about the colours of South East England (or any part of England for that matter) with people who actually live there.

the same way that people who have not likely seen a single solitary tracer in there lives, and still tell the people that have, that the tracers in game are totally perfect in every way and not too fat or too bright :P LOL

Sorry couldn't help my self :P


Fantastic Show by the way thanks for sharing:)